Currently, as wireless communication systems develop and become increasingly popular, wireless communication has brought convenience to our life; on the other hand, it has also caused our privacy to be infringed. In actual applications, during some particular time, a terminal user requires to set a terminal to be in a no-disturbance state under the circumstances that normal use of the terminal (such as calling or short messaging) is not affected.
In wireless communication networks, there is a mechanism that allows a terminal to register with a network, and the mechanism enables the network to perform highly efficient management on the terminal. FIG. 1 illustrates a flow of a terminal performing power-on registration with a network in related technologies, as shown in FIG. 1, the processing of a terminal registering with a network comprises: S1, a terminal sends a power-on registration message to a Base Station Subsystem (BSS); S2, the BSS sends the power-on registration message to a Mobile Switching Centre (MSC); S3, the MSC sends the power-on registration message to a Visitor Location Register (VLR); S4, the VLR sends the power-on registration message to a Home Location Register (HLR); and S5, the HLR, in its local database, sets the state of the terminal as a power-on ‘activation’ state.
In related technologies, when the state of the terminal changes or exceeds a certain period of time, the terminal requires to send a signaling message (or called a registration message) to the network through an air interface, the signaling message is used by the terminal to report its own state information to the network (i.e. used for registering with the network) so that the network can get to know the latest state of the terminal. Registration types commonly used at present comprise:
1. power-on registration: when the user powers on the terminal, the terminal sends a power-on registration message to the network, notifying the network that the terminal has been already powered on now and can receive telephone calls and short messages;
2. power-off registration: when the user powers off the terminal, the terminal sends a power-off registration message to the network, notifying the network that the terminal has been already powered off now and cannot receive telephone calls and short messages;
3. time-based registration: beyond a certain period of time following the last registration with the network, the terminal will send a regular registration message to the network, notifying the network of the latest state of the terminal;
4. distance-based registration: after the terminal's last registration with the network, if the terminal has moved beyond a certain distance, then the terminal will send a location registration message to the network, notifying the network of the latest location and other information of the terminal;
5. parameter change registration: when key parameters of the terminal have changed, the terminal will send a parameter change registration message to the network, notifying the network of the latest parameter information of the terminal;
6. zone update registration: when the terminal roams into a new zone or leaves the current zone, the terminal will send a zone registration message to the network, notifying the network of the latest information of the terminal; and
7. command registration: if the network requires to immediately know the information of the terminal and has been waiting too long due to the above-mentioned reasons for the terminal to send a registration message, then the network can send a command registration message to the terminal, requiring the terminal to immediately send a registration message and report the information of terminal.
In addition to the above-mentioned 7 types of registration messages, there are still other registration methods that do not require interaction of registration messages, which comprises:
8. network access registration: if the user has used the terminal to initiate a call to the network or has sent a short message, then the network can acquire current information of the terminal through the process of the user accessing the network, and the network would believe that the terminal has already implicitly registered with the network during the network access of this time; and
9. state inquiry registration: the network sends a state inquiry signaling to the terminal, the terminal feeds back a state response signaling to the network, and the network can infer state information of the terminal from the state response signaling.
In related technologies, the network stores registration information of the terminal inside the HLR or VLR, if the terminal is located within a home network, then the HLR will store current information of the terminal; if the terminal has roamed into another network, then the VLR will store current information of the terminal. Under the circumstances that there are calls or short messages, the MSC will inquire of the HLR or VLR about the terminal's current information. FIG. 2 illustrates a network processing flow during a service calling a terminal in related technologies, as shown in FIG. 2, under the circumstances that there are calls or short messages, the network processing flow comprises: S1, a calling party sends a voice call or a short message; S2, the MSC inquires of the VLR about the state of the terminal; S3, the VLR inquires of the HLR about the state of the terminal; S4, the state of the terminal that the HLR feeds back to the VLR is a power-on ‘activation’ state; S5, the state of the terminal that the VLR feeds back to the MSC is a power-on ‘activation’ state; S6, the MSC commands the BSS to page the terminal; S7, the BSS broadcasts a paging message through the air interface; S8, after the BSS has paged the terminal, the terminal returns a paging response message to the BSS; and S9, the terminal starts to normally establish a service connection.
In related technologies, if the terminal is currently in a power-off state, then for a call service, the network will prompt the calling party with a piece of information that the called party has powered the terminal off; for a short message service, the network will temporarily store the short message in a Message Centre (MC) and forward it when the terminal is powered on the next time. If the terminal is currently in an activated (powered-on) state, the MSC will page the terminal through the BSS. FIG. 3 is a signaling flowchart illustrating that the terminal normally registers with the network and the network pages the terminal in related technologies, as shown in FIG. 3, it comprises the following processing:
S1, the terminal (or called a Mobile Station (MS)) sends a registration message to the BSS; S2, the BSS sends the registration message to the MSC; S3, the MSC sends the registration message to the VLR; S4, the VLR sends a registration request to the HLR; S5, the HLR returns a registration-successful response message to the VLR; S6, the VLR returns the registration-successful response message to the MSC; S7, the MSC returns the registration-successful response message to the BSS; S8, the BSS returns the registration-successful response message to the MS; S9, a voice call or short message service calls the MS through the MSC; S10, after receiving the call, the MSC inquires of the VLR about the state of the terminal; S11, the VLR inquires of the HLR about the state of the terminal; S12, the HLR returns the VLR a response message that the terminal is in an activated state; S13, the VLR returns the MSC the response message that the terminal is in an activated state; S14, the MSC calls the MS through the BSS; S15, the BSS sends a common paging message to the MS; and S16, the MS returns a paging response message to the BSS.
During the above-mentioned processing, S4, S5, S11 and S12 are optional processes, because it is not necessary to inquire of the HLR if there is state information of the terminal stored in the VLR.
In related technologies, if the user wishes to shield incoming calls or short messages so as not to be disturbed during a certain time, while the user himself can still use the network normally to make calls or send short messages, then he/she will set a traditional no-disturbance function in the terminal; however, if the user sets the traditional no-disturbance function, then generally the terminal at the calling party will hear a prompt tone that the called party temporarily cannot receive the call. However, the user does not wish the calling party to hear such prompt tone in some cases, but wishes the calling party to hear a prompt tone that the called party has powered his/her MS off. No technical solution has been proposed now that can effectively solve the above-mentioned problems.